


Perchance To Dream

by TariSilmarwen



Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Drama, Exhaustion, F/M, Gen, Horror, Psychological Horror, Sleep Deprivation, Sleepy Cuddles, Team as Family, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26806516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TariSilmarwen/pseuds/TariSilmarwen
Summary: Thirty-six hours they'd been awake, and the Titans were wearing thin. But if they slept, the unseen monster trapped in the Tower with them would take over their minds. The stand-off couldn't last much longer. They needed answers now.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Garfield Logan, Dick Grayson & Raven, Dick Grayson & Victor Stone, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Garfield Logan/Raven, Koriand'r & Garfield Logan, Koriand'r & Raven (DCU), Koriand'r & Victor Stone, Raven & Victor Stone
Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954951
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75





	Perchance To Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Done for Whumptober 2020. Just a nice little bit of creepy action and peril for all our favorite Titans.
> 
> Prompts used were **No. 15 Into The Unknown: Possession** , **No. 23 What's A Whumpee Got To Do To Get Some Sleep Around Here?: Exhaustion/Sleep Deprivation** , aaaand finally **Alt. 7 Found Family**.
> 
> Enjoy!

A soft clink of porcelain on metal stirred Raven from her bleary concentration. She glanced over to see the fresh cup of hot tea by her elbow, steam wafting gently up from it.

"Thanks," she muttered to Beast Boy, who pulled out the seat next to her and plopped into it heavily.

"No luck yet, I'm guessing?" he asked, nodding towards the slowly shifting piles of books dumped out on the evidence table.

"Some cryptic references. Nothing concrete." She picked up the cup, just enjoying its warmth in her hands for a moment. "How's Robin's research coming?"

"He's on his third pot of coffee and showing it," Beast Boy replied, yawning widely. "Nearly bit my head off for shutting the cabinet door too loudly," he grumbled.

Raven took a long drag of her tea, the stinging heat warming her all the way down, reinvigorating her senses. She set the cup down with a satisfied exhale, swallowing.

Rubbing the corner of her eye, she flipped a few pages in her book. "I've still got a few obscure demonology reference books I can check," she told him.

"Mmhm," he mumbled.

"There's a passage here that talks about 'a pernicious, spiteful, and unusually powerful alp encountered by Tabitha of Ruenard'. Supposedly it tormented her for weeks and 'even took possession of one of her children'," she read aloud from the ancient tome. "Definitely sounds like our nighttime friend." She glanced up, scanning across her book piles anxiously. "I _know_ I have her _Account of Apparitions, Wraiths, and Other Ill Spirits_ in my collection _somewhere_. If I could find it I could get her firsthand report of the incident and at least confirm whether or not—"

She stopped suddenly, realizing the changeling had fallen unusually quiet.

"Beast Boy?"

She glanced over at him. He was leaned on his elbow, head drooped in his palm and eyes closed, breathing softly.

Raven's heart stuttered with panic.

"Beast Boy!" she cried, reaching over and slapping him across the cheek.

He startled back upright, eyes popping open.

"I'm awake!" he said, ramrod straight, traces of terror in the lines of his expression at what had almost happened.

Raven sagged back in her seat, her panic petering out.

"Don't _scare_ me like that!" she scolded, trembling angrily.

Beast Boy whimpered, strain on his face. "It's been thirty-six hours! I can't keep _going_ like this!" he whined, leaning both elbows on the table now and clutching his head. "Just a short nap?" he begged.

 _"No,"_ Raven reminded him sternly. "We can't risk it. The wards around the Tower won't contain him if he gets inside one of us." She grabbed his arm, squeezing with conviction. "I'm not letting him walk you out of here like some sick puppet again."

"I know, I _know,_ " he groaned, wiping his hands down his face. "Trust me, waking up in the middle of the bay and almost drowning with no idea how I got there wasn't fun for me either." He shook himself vigorously, teeth rattling. "Okay okay okay, what can I do to help?" he asked.

Raven tugged her mind away from the horrible memories of yesterday's early morning—stopping mid-sentence in her conversation with Robin when she noticed the disturbance in the water, realizing when she checked her empathic senses that the changeling was missing and that... _thing_ was smothered over his mind, only leaving him when Beast Boy was far from shore, Starfire frantically pulling him, sputtering and indignant, out of the water—and racked her brain for something the changeling could do, some task she could give him that would keep him awake long enough for her to find out what, exactly, she'd pissed off that had come back with such a grudge against them.

"Help me find that book," she determined, standing up a bit and grabbing another tome from atop the stack, flipping quickly through it.

Beast Boy's expression wilted a little as he glanced at the unread piles. "I'm gonna need another energy drink," he decided, shoving back from the table and popping up.

"Eat something first, don't just have more caffeine!" Raven called scoldingly after his back. "And don't fall asleep!" she snapped.

"I know, yeesh!" he called back as he disappeared through the door.

-TT-

Robin's eyelids sagged and his head began to dip forward. The words on the screen blurred and his thoughts began to swim, his mind drifting off—

He caught himself with a start, gasping back to alertness.

Starfire twitched next to him, immediately concerned. "Robin?" she asked.

He smeared a hand across his eyes. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Just drifted for a second." He cleared his throat, holding out his empty cup to her. "Can you get me some more of that Tamaranian glorbak root, whatever it was?" he requested. "That really helped last time."

"Alas," she said, taking the cup in both hands. "I fear I will be out of my small supply soon." She floated up, drifting over to the kitchen and flicking on the lights. "I hope Raven finds something," she said quietly.

Robin mashed his fingers against his temples, sighing heavily. A caffeine headache was pulling at the front of his skull, sitting just underneath his forehead. The computer light wasn't helping.

He straightened up in his seat, tapping back on the keyboard to scroll back through the news reports from his evidence file, showing the progression of the case.

It had started with just a series of odd sleepwalking incidents at first—petty crimes and mischief committed by ordinary people living along a specific street block, who'd seemingly just gotten out of bed and had no recollection of their actions once confronted. They'd initially suspected mind control, only all the usual suspects—Mad Mod, Killer Moth, the Puppet King—were still locked up. It wasn't until Raven had encountered one of these civilian sleepers on patrol and realized he _wasn't_ asleep, he was awake and responsive he just wasn't... _himself_ , that there was something overshadowing the man's conscious, that they'd had reason to suspect a supernatural cause.

Raven had questioned the sleeper, exorcised the presence, cast a protection spell over the neighborhood, and believed the matter settled.

Up until the entity had tried to drown Beast Boy in the harbor while she was giving Robin her report, two mornings ago.

Robin shivered again at the close call. Beast Boy was fine, physically unharmed, actually outright _sulky_ about the whole thing but the six minutes in-between when he and Raven had looked out the Tower window at the frantic splashing below and when the Titans had clustered at the shore while Starfire plucked the shape-shifter from the water had been one of the most terrifying moments of his life.

And the ordeal still wasn't over.

Robin felt himself sagging again, and jerked himself upright determinedly. He knew he'd made the right call—trapping the entity inside the Tower with them kept its wrath focused on the Titans, kept the rest of the city safe—but this tense stand-off could only last so long. His body was sore with exhaustion, it was getting harder to think, harder to concentrate. His head throbbed and pounded, begging him to just shut his eyes for a moment, just a moment.

The doors hissed open behind them. Robin and Starfire glanced up to see Cyborg step through, arm on sensor mode and held out in front of him as he walked in.

Robin forced himself to get up from his chair, coming over to meet Cyborg halfway.

"Tell me some good news," he begged.

Cyborg shook his head. "Wish I could," he said.

"I will literally take anything," Robin pressed, opening his hands out in helpless gestures.

The half-robot gave a sigh and dropped his arm heavily. "All right, well," he began, "after scanning along multiple wavelengths—repeatedly—I _did_ find that I can _sort of_ detect our incorporeal boogeyman in the infrared." He brought up the data on his wrist computer, showing it to Robin. "But he's _really_ slippery. I've swept the Tower top to bottom three times now and only just barely managed to catch him on my sensors."

"But he's still in the Tower?" Robin asked anxiously.

"For now," Cyborg confirmed. He peeked up over Robin's head towards the kitchen area. "That smells really good, Star," he told her. "Whatcha making?"

Starfire lifted up her wooden spoon, letting bits of green-blue goop fall back into her mixing bowl. "It is called glorbak root paste," she explained, wearily stirring the substance in slow circles. "It is a Tamaranian superfood, full of natural stimulants. It is designed to energize and cleanse the body of toxins." She tapped the spoon against the bowl and set it aside. "Would you like some?" she offered, a hint of her bright enthusiasm peeking through the gleam in her eyes.

He held up a hand. "I'm good, thanks," he said. "But you'll have to let me try some after all this is over."

Starfire nodded in acceptance, looking a tad disappointed. She put out two smaller bowls, one for herself, one for Robin, and began ladling her dish into them. She glanced at Cyborg as she did so, squinting curiously.

"You do not appear to be that tired, Cyborg," she observed. "Please, what is your secret?"

"Erm..." he stammered, looking uncomfortably towards Robin. "I uh..." At the Boy Wonder's narrowed stare he reluctantly continued. "I installed the Max 7 chip and deleted my sleep protocols," he admitted.

"Cyborg—" Robin was already groaning sharply.

The half-robot jabbed a finger at Robin's face. "Can it!" he snapped, tone suddenly harsh, frightening. "None of us are getting healthy rest tonight, Mr. Three-Pots-Of-Coffee-And-A-Stimulant-Shot. You stay awake your way, I'll stay awake mine, and we'll worry about whatever comatose crash we're heading for later."

Robin flinched like a kicked puppy, and Cyborg immediately felt bad for yelling.

"Sorry," the Boy Wonder mumbled. "I know. You're doing more work than anyone trying to catch this thing and—"

"Nah, man, I—" Cyborg interrupted, rubbing a hand behind his head. "—I shouldn't have sniped at you." He sighed. "It's been a long two days. We're all tired and cranky. I'll..." He stopped, staring intently at the kitchen, lighting upon an idea. "I'll make us all some food," he suggested. He moved into the kitchen, bumping shoulders with Starfire as he started opening the cabinets.

"Oh, yes please," she breathed, making room for him on the counter.

Robin nodded as well. "That sounds like a good idea." He reached down into his belt and pulled out his communicator, switching it on. "Hey Raven," he said into it. "Why don't you and Beast Boy take a break and come on up here? Cyborg's making a late dinner."

 _"Be up in a minute,"_ she promised.

Robin stowed his comm and moved to clear the dining table, stacking the news clippings he'd been scanning and brushing stray crumbs off the surface.

Starfire tugged softly on his right arm to draw his attention. He turned and accepted the offered bowl of glorbak root from her.

"Thanks," he said.

"May I go take a quick shower?" she asked. Her fingers combed idly through her hair, trying to tame the unruly frizzles that had been gathering all evening. "I believe the long nights have begun to make me quite... disheveled."

He smiled faintly at her. "You're still beautiful," he said, leaning in for a quick peck on the lips. "Go ahead, Star," he urged. "I'll keep your bowl warm for you."

She touched a hand affectionately to his cheek before turning and floating off.

-TT-

Fragrant spices mixed with the scent of sizzling ham, and boiling water churned and steamed in their largest pot as Cyborg plopped dried chunks of noodles into the water. Starfire returned from her shower in time to help Cyborg spoon the broth into separate bowls, sticking charred ham and seaweed snacks and fried eggs in along the edges and setting them at each place of the table. Cyborg was just dropping tofu chunks into Beast Boy's serving, whispering back and forth to Starfire where the soy sauce was located in their mess of a refrigerator, when a spot on the floor turned black and swirled up in loose eddies.

Raven yanked up from the depths, Beast Boy pulling up beside her and falling heavily on his rear as Raven let her portal close under their feet.

A wild, manic look was in her eyes as she held up a book with a huge green jewel embellishing the front, and all the Titans alerted to her at once, the air growing serious.

"I've got it!" she announced breathlessly.

-TT-

Raven turned the book around, open to a specific page, and held it up, shoving it forward on the table so everyone could see.

Starfire and Cyborg both leaned closer, forks stuck in their bowls. Robin made quick glances as he slurped his noodles messily.

"His name," Raven explained, "is Ypnefiáltis. He's an ancient creature from the early thirteenth century. He was misclassified as an alp for a few years before demonologists noticed he lacked most of the classic attributes—the hat, the ability to shape-shift, being warded off by broomsticks under pillows—" At Starfire's confused look, she interjected a quick, "—I'll explain later," before continuing. "His schtick is invading people's dreams and taking their bodies for a joyride at night. Vandalism, theft, general mischief..." she listed. "More about humiliating his target and ruining their reputation than causing them any actual harm."

"Sounds like our guy, all right," Cyborg commented, nodding. That was exactly how their case had started.

Raven's mouth pursed grimly. "Only problem is he's _really_ vindictive and spiteful towards anyone who ruins his 'fun'." She pulled the book back towards her, so she could read from its pages. "There was an apothecarist in England who fought him," she said. Her finger scrolled down the text. "'In the village of Glastony I spent the night with the miller and his daughters, warm and gracious ladies with pleasant temperaments, wholesome children. In the morning their father came to me with concerns that his eldest had been overshadowed by demons in the night—she had turned up at a neighbor's farm stark naked and pulling feathers from the neighbor's chickens. I agreed to look into the matter.'"

The empath paused a moment, grabbing the water glass by her bowl and stopping to take a long sip. The others waited in rapt attention, listening to the account.

"Let's see..." Raven scanned the words. "She caught up with the girl... confirmed she was possessed..." She cleared her throat and picked up again. "'I rebuked the entity and bade it depart. At once it left the girl's body, and confusion and shame at the state of her undress overtook her. I crafted the girl a protective charm of agate and rosemary, such as I myself wore every night, instructing her to keep it under her pillow as she slept to ward off further visits from the spirit.'"

"This is all sounding _very_ familiar," Robin interjected to comment.

"Tell me about it," Raven drawled in a mutter. "'The demon sought revenge for this indignity, and his nighttime possessions became at once shockingly violent and gruesome. Unable to take control of me, he followed me from village to village, everywhere I stayed ensnaring some poor soul and using their body as a vessel for wicked deeds, endangering their physical well-being and using them to attack other innocents. Several he lead to frightful deaths. The province became of the opinion that I was cursed, and barred their doors to me, even as I pleaded for aid in battling this heinous monster.'"

Starfire shivered in her seat, hearing in her imagination echoes of the woman's frantic begging, the rat-tat-tat of anxious fists on closed doors.

"So how do we beat him?" Beast Boy asked, folding his arms on the table.

"I'm getting to that," Raven snipped curtly. "It says she laid a trap for him in an old chapel behind her family's house. When he tried to confront her 'wearing the face of my dearest daughter'," she quoted, "she invoked an ancient incantation, so recorded below, 'and battled the creature long into the morning until I managed to prise his talons from my child's head and shatter his essence, so that he would not be able to arise again from the depths of hell until many long years had passed.'"

She finished her tale to a moment of deafening silence, only the soft clink of utensils on ceramic breaking it.

"So..." Beast Boy thought aloud. "All we gotta do is use this incantation on him, right?" he asked, almost eager. "And then he's blasted back to the netherworld or whatever?"

Raven's mouth twisted. "It'll be tricky. It requires sustained visual contact." She lay the book flat with a sigh, glancing apologetically at Robin. "I'm going to have to have an eyeline on him."

"So first we have to find him, wherever he is in the Tower," Robin concluded.

Cyborg grimaced. "That could be a problem."

Robin's mouth flattened into a firm line and he stared at the grains in the table thinking. Lifting his chin he asked, "What are our options?"

He looked first to Raven.

She was reluctant to speak at first, but then inhaled slowly.

"The wards around the Tower won't last the morning," she told Robin grimly. "If we're going to end this, we need to do it tonight. So he doesn't escape back out into the city the moment the spell is weak enough."

" _Uggghhhh_ ," Beast Boy groaned. "How are we supposed to find something we can't even _see?_ Wait—" he said, lighting upon an idea and glancing excitedly at Raven. "You can sense him right?"

She was already shaking her head. "Not while he's incorporeal. I couldn't even feel him in soul self form," she said. "That was the first thing I tried once the wards were up, trust me." She drifted back to the moment, to the anxious waiting through long hours of the night, her senses extended to their limits, waiting until she felt the flicker of him descending on one of her friends, entering them as they drifted off, and springing the trap, snapping the wards around the Tower and slamming the button for the alarm, instantly waking whoever it had been and loosing the demon's grip on them.

A horrible thought began to grow in her mind...

"Would it be possible to lure him out?" Starfire inquired, wide worried eyes fixed on a corner of the ceiling.

Cyborg answered this time. "Don't see how." He held up both hands, ticking off on his fingers. "I've tried EM pulses, static electricity, I've zapped every corner of this place with as many nonharmful rays as I could think of to flush him out. I've been up and down with the spectrometer chasing every blip I thought could be him. Hell, I tried an audio call-and-response." He set his arms back down, weariness showing in his shoulders. "I'm almost ready to try getting out a Ouija board."

"Bad idea," Robin immediately dismissed.

"Yeaaaah no, let's not invite any other spirits to the party dude," Beast Boy agreed. "Trust me, those things are bad mojo."

"This whole _thing_ is bad mojo," he grumbled, stabbing his fork into his ramen bowl and hefting a generous chunk of noodles.

Raven pursed her mouth, coming to a realization.

"I don't see any other way around it," she sighed, her hands flat on the table on either sides of her book. She stared down at the pages with a severe frown. "We're going to have to use bait."

She lifted her head, fixing them all with a serious look.

"One of us is going to have to fall asleep."

The Titans stared past each other in grim silence for a moment after the pronouncement, an aura of doom settling over them. Then, quietly, a voice spoke up.

"I'll do it," Robin said. His next inhale was shaky. "I'll be the easiest to... contain... if he takes hold of me."

Starfire wilted, her face crumpling with an agonized look. "I hate that your logic is sound," she whined.

He reached across, taking her hand under the table and squeezing it tightly.

"All right," Cyborg accepted soberly. "I guess we'll set up in the medbay then?"

Robin nodded. "We'll use the medical restraints. And we should probably lock down the room with the quarantine protocols."

Beast Boy piped up. "Uh, am I the only one who remembers you _broke out_ of those restraints on your own while hopped on hallucinogenics and panic?"

"This should be different," Robin assured him. He grimaced. "I think."

"That fills me with confidence," Raven said, sarcastic tone witheringly sour. Shaking herself she added, "But you're right. Physically you're the easiest to subdue if... if we have to. I don't think Ypnefiáltis will be able to replicate your combat skills just because he's inhabiting your body."

Robin thought for a moment. "I'll leave all my gear off too. That should help," he decided.

"We're really doing this," Beast Boy muttered. He let his head drop to the table with a groan. "Nnnnnngh, this is gonna _suck,_ " he pronounced miserably.

Cyborg pushed back from the table, crossing over to the sink and grabbing a glass. "Well, first order of business is to flush all that caffeine out your system." He filled the glass to the brim and returned to the table, smacking it down in front of Robin. "Drink up."

Robin pulled his hand from Starfire's, picked up the glass in both palms, and began tossing it back.

-TT-

After cleaning up the dishes, gathering a few supplies, and _several_ bathroom breaks, the Titans gathered in the medical bay to make what they hoped would be their final stand. Beast Boy paced the length of the room nervously and Starfire fidgeted as she sat on one of the beds, fingers wringing in front of her.

Cyborg was setting up some equipment, to monitor and detect any spectral readings if he could, give them a warning before Ypnefiáltis made himself known. He muttered curses to himself as he checked his arm and his infrared sensors, moving back and forth and plugging and unplugging cables.

Raven was floating in a corner of the room, eyes closed in meditation, gathering her strength. She could sense the nervous energy of her friends buzzing through the room, as their anxiety and trepidation cycled up and cycled down, and none moreso than the roiling bundle of nerves that was Robin. Raven could feel his jitters sharply through their bond, and did her best to subtly siphon it away, trying to calm him without pulling too hard and forcing him to.

She opened her eyes, coming out of her meditative trance and glancing over at him.

He stood at the counter, staring down reluctantly at a pair of small brown pills in his palm. There was a sedative shot on the tray in front of him as well, but Cyborg had cautioned against it, fearing it would knock Robin out too quickly, that there wouldn't be time to be ready if Ypnefiáltis decided to lunge in immediately.

The Boy Wonder worked up his courage for a long while, breathing slowly, carefully, frozen in place, his other hand curling tighter around the water glass he held.

Finally, he leaned his head back, tossing down the pills and bringing the glass up to his lips for a large gulp.

Exhaling, he set the glass down and spoke up.

"All right," he said. "I'm ready."

Starfire went over to him at once, wrapping arms around him and squeezing softly, feverishly.

"I'll be all right," he whispered into her hair, hugging back, taking comfort in her steady warmth.

She was trembling a little as she pulled away, her wide green eyes tightened with the same worry that pinched her mouth, strained her features. "I wish you did not have to do this," she said.

"I know," he only agreed, stepping back.

Cyborg paused fiddling with his equipment a moment to take over, setting Robin up with a couple wireless biosensors. Robin eased himself down on one of the beds, the heart monitor next to him fluttering, beeping steadily, and wordlessly let Cyborg strap him down.

Starfire turned her eyes away with a small whimper.

-TT-

They waited. The minutes stretched out, tense with anticipation. Cyborg hovered over his monitors and Raven stood to the side and waited with Tabitha's account held tightly open in her hands. Starfire seated herself next to the other bed, biting her nails and watching anxiously.

The stress was making her light-headed. The sides of her skull pinched and her thoughts wouldn't focus, running around in a thousand little circles that seemed to grow more and more incoherent.

She dropped her hand, leaning both arms onto the foot of the bed in front of her, watching glumly.

She _hated_ this. Hated having to see Robin tied down to that bed again. The last time had been more than enough for her, and now here he was again preparing to let another monster inside his head.

She didn't want to watch. Her head dropped, her forehead pressing into the cool metal of her arm guards to hide her face...

From the other side of the gurney, a fidgety Beast Boy stopped tapping his toes against the wheels underneath Robin, deciding to pipe up.

"Soooo... I kinda thought those sleeping pills were supposed to make you... you know... _sleep._ "

Robin's teeth gnashed inside his head, and both Raven and Cyborg flicked irritated glares at him.

"You are not. _Helping._ Beast Boy," Raven growled through clenched jaw.

"They're working, I promise," Robin strained, his head bobbing back a little bit, dizzily. "I'm plenty drowsy, it's just..." He hissed out in frustration. "It's hard to let go."

There was a growing fuzziness, pulling at his brain. The bed beneath him felt amazingly soft and warm and he just wanted to slip down into that softness and melt there but the prickling stabs of anticipatory fear tingled in his head, preventing him from concentrating on the tired heaviness starting to fill him.

One of Cyborg's monitors beeped.

"Woah, hang on," he said, alerting to it at once. "I think I've got something."

He leaned over the display, tapping a couple buttons, peering at the blue-white text and data.

"Spectral frequency analyzer is picking up _something_ ," he reported. "Could be our bogey."

Raven's spine crawled with a chill. "I'm... picking up something too," she said, her empathic senses feeling a shadow presence tickling at the fringes of her awareness.

From on the bed Robin blinked dazedly, mumbling a confused, "But I'm not... asleep yet..."

Cyborg frowned, flicking his monitor with his fingers. "Could be a glitch," he admitted. "Maybe I didn't calibrate the emitters properly." He hunched over it, squinting at it in study.

"Oh, I think it's working perfectly..."

The voice from behind him stopped them all dead, and Robin's drooping eyes shot open wide as a spike of panic broke through and made him fully alert.

The other Titans turned their heads, horrified, to see Starfire raising her head from her arms, an eerily calm... _smirking_ expression on her face.

Her soft features were contorted with an alien malice, and when she rose to her feet the whole movement felt _wrong_ somehow.

She tilted her head to the side, cracking a twisted grin. "Congratulations kids, you found me." It was her voice, her inflection, but it wasn't _her._ She turned a narrowed glare on Raven. "Now let me _out,_ " she snarled.

Something snapped inside all of them, and Cyborg charged forward with a furious yell, fist raised.

Starfire ducked low, coming up and _punching_ hard into Cyborg's metal diaphragm, sending him hurling away to crash against the far wall, knocking over some of his equipment along the way.

_BAM!_

Raven's heart caught in her throat as she whipped around fully to face the thing that was wearing her friend.

The demon was looking down at Starfire's hands, marveling, eyes alight.

"Oooh this body is _strong!_ " it crowed. The vindictive smirk returned as it looked back up. "Maybe I'll keep this one."

On the hospital bed, Robin unfroze, jerking stiffly, finding his voice.

 _"No!"_ he cried, terror strangling his throat. "Star! _Star!_ " He struggled in place, held down by the gurney straps.

Beast Boy let out a feral growl. "Let my sister go you creep!" he yelled, rushing forward, morphing into a bear and swiping heavily.

The demon moved Starfire out of the way easily, side-stepping the vicious strike. Her fist lit up and the bear that was Beast Boy gave a yelp as a starbolt stung his side. He stumbled, tangling in Cyborg's equipment and bringing it crashing down with him as he fell.

"Oh what's _this?_ " the demon exclaimed, eyes agleam, experimenting with another ball of glowing green energy. "Ho ho, you mortals have been holding out on me." It hurled the ball, exploding it against one of the monitors.

Raven cried out as glass splinters nipped her side, raising an arm to shield her face. Features narrowing in determination, she pressed her open book tight against her chest with one hand, with the other gathered dark matter.

"Azarath Metrion—"

Another starbolt beaned her in the stomach, knocking her over. She managed to hold onto the book, even as her head cracked against the floor.

The thing inside Starfire snarled in fury.

"Not today, witch!" it hissed. It grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray, bringing it up to Starfire's neck. "Release the wards or I'll slit her throat right here!" it threatened.

" _Don't you touch her!_ " Robin was shrieking from his trapped position, yanking on the straps even more frantically.

Raven glared, pushing up to her elbows. "If you kill her, you'll still be trapped," she said icily.

"Not for long," the demon growled.

Cyborg's sonic cannon ratcheted up and fired before the stand-off could continue any longer, the blue-white beam slamming into Starfire and sending her skidding into the other bed.

"Ungh!" her voice grunted.

The scalpel was lost in the collision and now Cyborg and Beast Boy were both charging in, dogpiling onto Starfire and trying to pin her body down.

She threw them off with a surge of strength, green eyes glowing vibrantly. Eyebeam shots fired off, hitting the walls, the ceiling, bouncing off the metal quarantine barriers and pinging dangerously around the room. Raven threw up a barrier over her head, ducking low and flinching as the shots thudded into her shield.

The demon seized an IV stand, swinging it like a spear into Cyborg's side. He was batted into the side of Robin's bed, recovered, grabbed hold of the pole on the next strike, trying to wrest it from Starfire's hands.

She brought the heavy metal feet up and cracked them against his chin. He went down, dazed.

Beast Boy slithered around her, scaly snake body coiling over her arms. She glowed dangerously a moment before exploding outwards, starbolt energy blasting out. The changeling flew high and smacked the ceiling before crashing down and crumpling.

Raven was on her feet now, running forward.

Starfire bared her teeth, grabbing the edges of Robin's bed and flipping it, making the boy give a yelp as he was upended, the bed toppling on its side.

It didn't slow down Raven, who floated up and over Robin and blasted dark matter at their opponent.

Robin could hear the fight from his awkward position but he couldn't _see_ it, couldn't _move_ , couldn't get himself free. His wrists twisted in the canvas cuffs wrapped tightly around them, pulling in panic, the restraints that were supposed to help contain their enemy now an absolute hindrance trapping him in place.

"Beast Boy!" he cried, yelling at the groaning limp form of the changeling. "C'mon, get up! _Help me!_ "

Beast Boy moaned again and lurched up onto his hands, shaking his head. He scurried over to the fallen gurney, rising up on his knees and hands grabbing at the strap holding Robin's right wrist, pulling the end loose from the buckle.

He'd just freed Robin's hand when a starbolt shot and Raven's cry rang out, and then her body was flying over their head, spilling on the ground, the book knocking free and skidding across the floor.

" _Don't let him blast—!_ " Robin ordered frantically.

Beast Boy was already moving, morphing into a small spiny ankylosaur, hurling himself over the book as an eyebeam blast streaked overhead and splashed against his side. The changeling hissed in pain, but stayed curled over the ancient tome, protecting it from the searing beam.

After a moment the eyebeams shut off, the demon giving a growl and a horrendous screeching of crumpling metal sounding.

Robin strained with his free hand for the strap at his waist, prying at the buckle with his fingers. He managed to undo it, and quickly grabbed for the one at his shoulders. It came loose and his torso slid partway off the gurney, hanging awkwardly in the remaining straps until he freed his other hand and manged to wriggle his legs and feet out of the rest.

 _Finally_ free from the bed, Robin pushed up to his palms, and then his knees, and then his feet, and then he bolted upright, straining over the tipped gurney to see a groaning Cyborg rubbing his head and no sign of Starfire, the wide hole in the floor the only sign of her former presence.

He started forward, then stopped, backing up and checking on Raven, one hand reaching towards her neck to feel for a pulse.

She groaned, already rising before he could touch her, waving him off with a hand.

"I'm fine," she insisted, grimacing in pain. "Stop _him_."

Loosed like an arrow from the quiver Robin bolted around the fallen gurney, grabbing the syringe of sedative from the tray before dropping down through the hole.

Cyborg shook himself alert and followed moments later.

Beast Boy morphed back to normal, whimpering a bit as smoke drifted up from his singed side. Raven stumbled over, quickly pressing healing hands to him.

"You know..." Beast Boy coughed, arms tightening around Raven's book for an anchorpoint against the pain. "I don't think we appreciate enough how much Starfire holds herself back."

Raven quirked a faint smile in spite of everything. "Remind me to tell her once all this is over," she quipped.

-TT-

"Cyborg, which way?!" Robin called back frantically, checking down the long hallway corners at the junction.

"Left, towards the training room!" Cyborg told him, checking his sensors. "Keep going, I'll activate the Tower's lockdown measures!" he said, shoving his arm into the nearest wall console and plugging in, pulling up the keyboard to tap in the authorization code.

The red alert sirens immediately screeched out, flashing scarlet through the halls. Lights shut off and solid _thumps!_ sounded as metal plates slid down, barricading the windows.

Robin heard a snarl of fury underneath the din, and lasered in on it, hurtling down the hall until he found her crashing through the equipment in the training room, shoving aside weight racks.

"In _fernal_ mortals!" the demon inside her was grouching to itself. "I will _not_ be contained by your paltry parlor tricks!" A large weight was hefted lightly, hurled into the closest wall.

_CRASH!_

The wall crumbled, leaving another jagged hole. Starfire's body floated up, glowing fists clutched tight by her sides, drifting towards it.

"Ypnefiáltis!" Robin yelled.

Starfire's head whipped in his direction.

Robin stabbed the syringe into his neck, releasing its contents. Yanking it out he let it drop with a little glass _tink!_

"Take me!" he cried. He planted his feet firmly as he flung out his demand. "Let her go and take _me!_ "

Her face twisted with a hideous anger. "You're a fool if you think I'd trade this body for yours, boy!" the demon inside her spat.

Robin kicked off a workout bench and landed himself in front of the hole, blocking Starfire's way. He wobbled on his feet slightly, a lightheadedness circling around his ears.

"I'm not... letting you take her..." he said. He blinked hard, heaviness moving through his limbs.

Her eyes blazed green hotly. In a blink she crossed the distance, outstretched hand closing around his neck.

Robin choked slightly, the pressure and breathlessness adding to the fuzzy darkness creeping in. He grabbed weakly at her arm.

She lifted him up, toes brushing weakly against the floor, regarding him with pure contempt.

"You can't possibly hope to stop me," the demon told him, eerily calm. "I can feel the strength in this body. The _power_. This girl you care for could _snap_ you like a twig," it said, fingers tightening ever so slightly.

Robin strained for breath.

 _"Iorondium caelix sans, malkizek vash origari!"_ a voice rang out from behind them, echoing with power.

The glow in Starfire's eyes disappeared, a bald look of fear replacing the chilled anger. The demon jerked its head back to see Raven standing in the doorway, black aura flaming around her, Tabitha's book opened, the words glowing on the pages. Beast Boy hovered behind the empath's shoulder as she chanted, reaching out with her free hand, eyes fixed on Starfire.

The demon cursed, dropping Robin back on his feet. The Boy Wonder stumbled back in a daze, hand lightly touching his throat.

Anger returning to Starfire's expression, the demon hissed, "You get your wish, boy."

She shoved him. A vague shadowy form pulled out from her, lunging forward.

Robin tripped backwards over the lip of the hole in the wall. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, and Ypnefiáltis was already inside him, already opening his eyes and rolling him away from the hole.

"— _dristar caliki..._ dammit!" Raven cursed, stopping her spell and running up as Starfire's body crumpled.

She glared after the fleeing form of Robin, already out of range down the next hall, bending down and shaking Starfire by the shoulder.

"Star, wake up! Wake _up!_ "

She was as still as death for a moment, before shooting upright, eyes wide and horrified.

"Raven!" she cried. Her legs curled underneath her, her hands pressing over her mouth and her eyes shimmering, lined with tears. "Oh no, I am so _so_ sorry!" she said, distress cracking her words. "I did not mean to—I _swear_ I only closed my eyes for a few seconds!"

"It's okay," Raven assured her, grabbing her arm and helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, we'll worry about it later," Beast Boy agreed, joining them. "We gotta move, it's got Robin."

Starfire gave a heartbreaking squeak of dismay, following her friends as they climbed through the hole.

-TT-

"Let me out!" Robin cried, banging on what seemed to be a solid wall of glass.

Laughter cackled from all around him, echoing in the empty space.

"Oh ho no, boy. You wanted me here. There are no take-backsies."

Robin gasped, shooting a look towards his feet as he felt squelching mud starting to rise up around his ankles.

Glowing red eyes sneered out at him from behind the glass, a twisted, demonic face curling its mouth in a terrible fanged smile.

"You're _mine._ "

-TT-

Cyborg joined them at the stairwell.

"I've got a lock on him!" he immediately announced, staring at his arm display. "He's in the vents, three levels down, heading for the main generator." He looked up from his arm. "Probably trying to figure out a way to manually shut down the Tower's defenses."

Raven's mind whirled, an on-the-fly strategy coming to her. "Let's try a two-pronged attack," she said. "Cyborg, Starfire, you go down and intercept him. Beast Boy," she ordered, turning to him, "I'm going inside Robin's mind to push Ypnefiáltis out from there."

"Not alone you're not," he insisted, grabbing her hand.

"Figured you'd say that." She glanced at the others. "Hurry!"

Starfire and Cyborg nodded, and swiftly descended the stairs.

Taking a deep breath, Raven focused her energies.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos..." she murmured. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."

She felt her body dissolving, Beast Boy's hand turning into a warm ember on her senses. Twining a thread of consciousness around his presence, she concentrated on physically pulling the changeling and the book along with her soul self.

Walls passed like mist around her mind's eye. She used her bond with Robin like a rope to pull them down, down, past Cyborg and Starfire thundering down the stairs, past the maintenance vents, into the generator room and down towards the brightly-colored figure scrabbling on the ladder.

She met a brief wall of resistance and then she was inside, and the darkness was reshaping itself, shapes slowly fading out of the blackness.

A glimmering starlit city appeared, the Tower glowing proudly in the bay. The Jump City inside Robin's mindscape looked peaceful, but dark stormclouds were overtaking the horizon, blotting out the stars one by one.

Raven set them down in an empty tree-lined street, her and Beast Boy's presences reforming into their own images.

Beast Boy shook himself out, checking both hands, touching his arms, ears, and legs to make sure he was all there. Raven turned in a slow circle, feeling out for Robin, scanning the shifting image of the city.

A dull _thump!_ met her ears from behind.

Both Titans turned to see Robin, on the other side of what looked like a thick glass storefront. The room behind him was pitch black, and he was gaping through the window incredulously.

"What are you guys _doing_ here?" he yelled, slightly muted from behind the wall.

Raven felt a twinge of relief pass through her head at seeing him. "Kicking out your unwanted houseguest," she drawled.

"Speaking of!" Beast Boy shrilled, pointing frantically.

The empath hissed slightly through her teeth, tensing and taking a step back as a tall, charcoal and crimson-skinned... _entity_ stalked up the street, the stormclouds crackling behind him. It was a spindly, long-limbed creature, the red parts of its skin peeking out like molten lava, black horns crowning its head. Its clawed feet dripped mud as it thundered towards them, piercing yellow snake-like eyes narrowed in fury.

"There's no room for two in this head, witch!" he shouted. He stabbed a clawed finger towards the trapped Robin. "Much less four!" The hand curled tightly, as if gripping something unseen. "Take your weak-willed pet and leave and I won't _squeeze_ your friend's consciousness into oblivion."

There was a terrified gasp from the Boy Wonder, and Raven and Beast Boy watched, horrified, as the same churning mud that burned at Ypnefiáltis's feet filled the room Robin was in, pulling him away from the window, dragging at his clothes and limbs.

Beast Boy tucked his head low, morphing in a blink into a charging bull elephant and _slamming_ the demon's legs.

Ypnefiáltis grunted, knocked back down the hill into a squat building.

The changeling shifted back to normal, clenching his fists with a nod of satisfaction.

"I'm _nobody's_ pet, dude," he said, icily.

Raven wrapped a bubble of protection around her book, gently floating it behind a shrub to keep it safe. Both hands flamed with dark matter, her eyes dissolving into blank white.

She rose up, floating above the street, the mindscape shifting in response to her drawing power. Ypnefiáltis pried his head up from the debris, giving pause when he saw the aura glowing around her.

Raven looked like something truly terrifying as her powers swirled around her, forming into an enormous raven, a huge silhouetted avatar emanating from her shoulders, screeching threateningly.

Her voice echoed faintly as she spoke.

"Get out of my brother's head," she growled.

-TT-

Starfire snarled as she threw a punch, denting the place where Robin's head had been a moment before.

The demon inside him continued to evade and dodge her heavy strikes, though just barely, with none of Robin's usual elegant speed and precision.

Cyborg charged in with a yell, and now the demon retreated back, breaking off a piece of loose rebar and whipping its sharp end at them.

The generators behind and above them churned with a loud hum, near-deafening. They battled along the catwalks, down into the pits, back up the maintenance ladders, forcing the demon back and back.

It lunged for Starfire with the makeshift spear pointed up for a thrust.

Starfire batted the bar aside with her wrist, grabbing him around the waist, flying up, slamming him into the side of a pipe above them.

_Blam!_

Breathless, the demon crumpled to its knees as Starfire dropped him. It clutched its stomach, raising its head with vicious malice.

"Knew I shouldn't have jumped ship," it grumbled.

It immediately had to dodge a starbolt, which popped against a grated cover behind Robin's ear.

"You will not claim possession of my head again!" Starfire declared firmly.

She lunged for him but he had already dropped down a level below, right into Cyborg's path. The two exchanged furious blows for a few seconds before a misfired sonic shot broke the catwalk beneath them, plunging them down to the bowels of the room.

Ypnefiáltis groaned as it pulled the frail human mortal's body out of twisted metal and up to its feet. It could feel bruises pluming under the soft skin, the sedative numbing the boy's nerves and senses as it coursed through fragile veins.

 _Useless human vessel_ , it grouched to itself.

The strong girl was beelining for him again. Gnashing the teeth inside his mouth, the demon picked up the broken bar again, and as Starfire swooped in, slashed it through a set of live cables, leaving their dangling ends sparking and popping, grabbing one sizzling end with a free hand and turning to tag Starfire with it.

The electricity exploded through her body upon contact, lighting her up for a horrible moment as she shrieked.

The demon pulled the cable away and watched the girl drop with a satisfying slump, falling prone on the floor.

"Star!" cried her companion.

Ypnefiáltis turned to meet the new attack.

-TT-

Inside Robin's mind, another battle raged. Raven's projection slammed against Ypnefiáltis, battering him about the nightlit city streets. Mud like pitch black tar formed itself into hideous hands, batting the wingtips of the diving black raven, blocking the sharp beak snaps.

The demon suddenly howled in pain as teeth sank into his calf.

Beast Boy, in giant tyrannosaur form, clenched his jaw harder, lifting up, upending Ypnefiáltis, shaking him like a ragdoll and flinging him off.

The stormclouds retreated aways across the horizon, scattered puddles of mud dissolving.

They reinvigorated with force as Ypnefiáltis rolled about in midair and scratched his claws into the street, tearing concrete.

Robin gave a cry, clutching hands over his head like it was him that had been split. The mud was up to his torso now, and no amount of desperate scratching at the glass barrier had made any difference.

A shadow fell across him and he yelped and reeled back as Beast Boy rammed his tyrannosaur head against the glass.

The room shook and Robin's teeth rattled but it had no effect on the barrier.

The mud curled in grasping tendrils around Robin's neck as the changeling backed up to try again.

-TT-

Cyborg clenched his teeth, every swing of his fists sending pain signals up to his brain. His chest chassis on the left side had been dented in and it hurt not unlike the time he'd broken a rib tackling a larger linebacker. On top of that his head was pounding with what he was pretty sure was a concussion, from the IV stand uppercut back in the medbay.

He grabbed for Robin as the demon inside him duel wielded the broken bar and a sparking cable, jolts of stray electricity stinging across his metal hands as he punched and the Boy Wonder evaded, ever-slippery.

The foulest, most profane curses spewed from Robin's mouth, words Cyborg had never heard their leader utter even when at his most stressed.

"You worthless low-life _animals!_ " his voice was screeching. "All you had to do was stay out of my way!" The rebar slashed horizontally and Cyborg hissed as he pulled back just short of its flashing point.

"And let you run rampant stealing people's bodies? Hurting them? That how you get your kicks, asshole?" the half-robot challenged back.

An angry swing aimed at his head, but this time Cyborg caught it, hand gripping tightly around the end and summarily pulling it from Robin's hands.

"I'll tell you what's gonna happen—you're gonna give my friend back right now!" he declared loudly.

The demon inside Robin snorted. "Or what, metal brains?"

The live cable was thrust against Cyborg's side.

Cyborg yelled, keening in agony, as the electric jolts shot through him. His knees buckled but he didn't collapse, doubling over and swinging out a hand blindly to ward off the attack.

Robin struck again, digging the sparking end into Cyborg's shoulder, and this time he _did_ hit the floor, hands clenched into fists, paralyzed by pain.

"You gonna hit me? Shoot me?" came the mocking challenge, as the demon pressed him down sadistically. "Anything you try to do me you're doing to your friend as well."

Through the stabbing fire a thought lit up in Cyborg's head. His twisted face grimaced apologetically.

"I'm really sorry about this, man," he said.

"What—?" the demon started to blurt.

Cyborg's hand shot up and closed around Robin's wrist. The half-robot pushed up to his feet, twisting the cable and Robin's hand around until it touched the boy's chest.

He shrieked, throwing his head back with an agonized scream as the electricity coursed through him.

-TT-

Lightning struck suddenly from the sky, pluming down upon Ypnefiáltis, burning up the street, the grass, the trees, shattering windowpanes all up and down the way.

He gave a bellowing cry, his shout rending in the open space.

The lightning ripped all along the mindscape, crawling up buildings, piercing through rock. With a loud burst the storefront barrier shattered, and Beast Boy whipped into an octopus and dug tentacles into the mud inside, prying Robin loose, pulling him out through the jagged edges.

He gasped heavily as his face was uncovered, coughing out dribbles of mud that had been forcing their way down his throat.

Beast Boy pulled him free from the sludge, morphing back to normal and hovering in concern as Robin inhaled awkward, halting gulps of precious air, doubled over on hands and knees.

Raven had shielded herself from the lightning blast by coiling her raven avatar in a ball around herself. Now her energy dissipated, and she looked up at the clearing sky and down at the dazed form of the demon, stirring finally from a prone position on the ground.

"Do it Raven!"

The order came from Robin, up on his feet now, firm and determined.

"Do it now!"

Raven nodded, descending at once to the street to retrieve the book from its hiding place. It opened at once to the folded bookmark, and Raven set her feet down and breathed in once, slowly.

 _"Iorondium caelix sans, malkizek vash origari..."_ she recited.

Robin and Beast Boy ran across the way, towards the fallen dream demon, who seemed so much smaller now, grabbing hold of him from both sides and holding him in place.

His snake-like eyes blinked out of their daze, widening in horror.

" _Pernicum vax theotok regula!_ " Raven chanted louder.

The sigils on the page blazed white.

"No! _No!_ " cried the demon. He wrenched in the boys' hold, panicked.

 _"Hoffernaff tabon dristar caliki caelum THAN!"_ Raven's voice swelled in volume as she shouted the last words.

The sigils grew blinding, ripping from the pages and twisting together, becoming a beam of pure white light.

The beam arced through the air until it impaled Ypnefiáltis straight through the stomach.

 _"Nooooooooooo!"_ he screeched, the light melting through him, turning the cracks of crimson into piercing white, splintering him from the inside out.

With a final explosive burst, he shattered, pieces ripping away, the storm clouds in the sky dissolving, mud bubbling, mist taking everything and pulling it all away, blurring the cityscape into moving shadows that dimmed into utter darkness and silence.

-TT-

Robin's eyes fluttered open and he gasped, jerking his head.

"It's all right," Cyborg assured him, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You're awake. He's gone."

The Boy Wonder relaxed, and sat up with a pained groan.

"You electrocuted me?" he said hoarsely.

Cyborg cringed. "I'm really sorry. I had to."

"Note to self: Will shoot the hostage," Robin muttered. A weight slammed into him from the side. "Ugnh!"

"Forgive me, Robin!" Starfire sobbed, arms tightening around him, pressing herself into the embrace. "I allowed myself to slip! I put all of us in such horrible danger!" she cried, warbling with guilt and dismay.

He wrapped arms around her, burying his face in her hair.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he breathed softly.

Soft footsteps sounded on the stairwell. The other three looked up to see Raven and Beast Boy coming down, the empath limping and practically hanging off Beast Boy's shoulder.

She looked them over in concern, her face gaunt and paler than normal.

"Is anyone hurt?" she asked.

"We're _all_ hurt," Cyborg replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Don't even worry about it right now."

Raven pushed off Beast Boy, staggering upright. "I can still heal—"

"Leave it for the morning, Raven," Robin interrupted, getting carefully to his feet with Starfire's assistance. "You're exhausted. We're _all_ exhausted. It can wait. That's an order."

"...All right," Raven accepted. "At least let's all get back up to OPS."

Murmurs of agreement rounded the group.

They shuffled, dragging their feet, adrenaline inside them petering out and out and leaving them drained. Robin held his bruised back and Cyborg wordlessly reached up and ejected the Max 7 chip from its port, tapping on his arm to reboot and restore his programming.

Beast Boy was the first to yawn, and then all of them were, stretching their mouths wide, blinking, rubbing their eyes. There was a very thin crack of sunlight peeking over the horizon when they finally made it, stumbling and weary, up to the common room.

Robin wasn't sure who it was who first moved towards the couch, but moments later Starfire was curling up under his arm, with Cyborg sprawled out behind them, his head tilted back, already snoring, powering down. Robin shifted to get more comfortable, the lingering sedative in his bloodstream catching up with him, slowing his body, sinking him down into warmth. Beast Boy hopped up into his lap in kitten form, kneading his legs before curling up and tucking his soft tail underneath himself.

"We should... take today off..." the Boy Wonder murmured softly, eyes closed, breaths deepening.

"Mmmhmm..." Starfire agreed tiredly.

Raven was the last to slide down onto to couch, pulling her feet up on the cushions, leaning softly against Cyborg's side.

She let herself fade to the deepening sense of peace.

When the sun finally crested the ocean, beaming orange over the room, it fell across all five teens in their quiet pile, sound asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> The kids get a well-deserved nap after this.


End file.
